USDA is getting three new deputy undersecretaries, including a strong proponent of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, to help lead the department in the Biden administration.

EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler is optimistic that new and greener alternatives are on the way to help farmers to protect their pests. During an Agri-Pulse Open Mic interview, Wheeler didn’t offer specifics on new products or a timeline.

The Environmental Protection Agency has narrowed a rule to protect individuals from pesticide spraying by establishing one 25-foot “Application Exclusion Zone” for all ground spray applications and limiting AEZ’s to the boundaries of the agricultural establishment.

The Environmental Protection Agency can do a better job on “the way we handle pesticide regulation,” EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler said in a speech at the Nixon Presidential Library last week.

The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing to exempt from its regulation some biotech crops that are genetically engineered to be toxic to damaging insects and other plant pests. 

A new bill would ban two widely used classes of pesticides and allow citizens to petition the Environmental Protection Agency for designations of pesticides as “dangerous,” which could lead to suspension of their registrations.

Agriculture in Europe and the United States may be diverging even more sharply in coming years. The European Union has adopted a series of sweeping goals for slashing the use of pesticides, antibiotics and fertilizer – and converting at least 25% of EU agriculture to organic over the next decade.

The European Commission has ambitious new plans to cut farmers’ use of pesticides, fertilizer and antimicrobials while also boosting organic production over the next decade.